Hidden in the Stars by Robin Caroll My rating: 4 of 5 stars A suspenseful story centered on Olympic hopeful, Sophia Montgomery and Detective Julian, assigned to solve why she was attacked, “Hidden in the Stars” isn’t a gritty crime novel but rather a subtly loved story with a message of trusting God, no matter…

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This has been an almost unbearably terrible week for those in the veterinary profession, and those who love animals. First the awful news that Dr. Sophia Yin had passed away, and then not one day later, we learned of the passing of another tremendous voice and educator, Dr. Lorie Huston.

Like many of you I considered Dr. Huston a friend. She was extremely well regarded for her work online as the Voice of Pet Care with the Pet Healthcare Gazette, her many contributions to various publications, and most recently her position as president of the Cat Writer’s Association. But I think even more than her fantastic work, she was admired for her kindness.

Her gentle manner and empathy were unrivaled, and a shining example of the compassion that veterinarians so often extend to animals but sometimes struggle to extend to each other. She never had an unkind word for anyone. I don’t know how she did it. She made me want to be more like her.

As a denizen of the online community, I have nothing tangible to offer in condolences, no casseroles to deliver, no walls to place a white flower upon. All I have are words, those intangible, ethereal ideas that seem so unremarkable in the face of such sadness, and my attempt to express them in the hopes that in some small way they help someone else understand what Dr. Lorie was all about. And because I cannot bear to cry any more today, I want to instead share a story that will maybe make those of you who knew her smile a little through your tears.

The Marble Room Incident

A couple of years ago, the AVMA national convention was in San Diego. I touched base with Dr. Huston and learned she would be attending, and made plans to meet up with her at the Winn Feline Foundation booth, where Dr. Huston was sharing the work the foundation is doing to advance the health and well-being of cats. Dr. Huston had six cats, six well-loved, adored felines.

“Shall we go get dinner?” I asked, and she said she thought that would be a good idea. We walked a little bit through the Gaslamp district, and as I was starting to get tired I saw the name of a restaurant I had been to before and said, “How about the Marble Room? They’re great.” Lorie agreed.

I had been to the Marble Room with my husband shortly after it opened, a throwback steak house type place with amazing truffle fries. That was how I remembered it. No one told me they had changed ownership.

We sat outside since it was a pleasant evening, which in retrospect was an error since had I gone in I would have seen the new theme: old timey bordello masquerading as a saloon. Within a minute, what I thought was a streetwalker but was instead an embarrassed-looking server in a too-tight corset and can-can skirt asked us what we would like to drink.

“Iced tea,” Lorie said with a pleasant smile, as I sat horrified. “Me too,” I squeaked out. “Are these uniforms new?”

The server nodded with a frown, trying not to catch the edge of the menus on her fishnets.

A quick Google search would have helped immensely in this situation.

So Lorie and I shared a pleasant meal of not-quite-as good as I remember truffle fries while we talked about the role social media played in the evolution of veterinary medicine.

As always happened when we spoke, I was blown away by how sharp she was- never mind her calm and quiet demeanor, her brain was always churning away a million miles an hour about what the next big step was in improving the human-animal bond. Her greatest gift, as many of you know, was in explaining these complicated health concepts in concise and clear language. She made medicine accessible, and to those like me who knew medicine, she made social media accessible too.

Midway though dinner, she excused herself to find the ladies room. When she returned, she assured me that she located it just fine. When I followed suit a moment later, wedging between red leather banquettes towards the back, I saw that the hall leading to the ladies room was hard to miss as it was covered in, uh, tasteful I guess, nudes. I paused a moment to dab my forehead with cold water, mortified that I took poor, sweet Dr. Lorie to the world’s tackiest themed restaurant for subpar potatoes.

Seriously, naked people everywhere.

When I returned, Lorie was talking to the server and quite kindly ignoring her attempts to hold her top up as she cleared the plates. “I am so sorry,” I said. “This is not the place I remember.”

“Oh no, it was delicious,” she said kindly, ignoring the rest of the situation. “The truffle fries were excellent. Thank you.”

And that was Dr. Lorie, always. Gracious to a fault. She was generous with her friendship, advice, and compliments, even when they were not deserved, even when her friend subjected her to an awkward, PG-13 rated evening out after a long day at the conference booth.

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It’s the holidays, and that means lots of things: peace on Earth, goodwill to men!

Was Brody this teeny on his first Christmas? Time sure flies.

Just kidding, it means cranky people fighting in the parking lot, someone getting shanked over the last PlayStation, and passive aggressive fruitcake gifts.

I wasn’t always this cynical. I, too, was once a merry-eyed elf with stars in my eyes and garland round my neck, until I worked long enough in veterinary medicine. Then I began to dread the month of December. It is a month of ill portents:

Too many people who blew their budget on Black Friday, cannot afford to work up their cat’s pancreatitis, and then blame it all on you in a waiting room explosion worthy of the Fourth of July;

The strange but consistent uptick in euthanasias the week before Christmas. Always.

Wondering where your card is from your favorite client then remembering with a pang of pain that they lost their dog to cancer in October. Yes, we feel sorrow for your pets. We love them too.

Hearing the two most dreaded utterances in veterinary medicine:

1. Fifteen minutes of telling us how every vet before us has wronged them, but we are awesome.

We’re not flattered. We’re terrified. We know it’s only a matter of time before we’re next on the naughty list.

2. The four words you must never say: “Money is no object.”

Translation: That’s because we have no intention of paying the bill. Been there, done that, many times.

So please forgive your vet if they seem a little more harried than usual, if their eyes are open a little wider than normal or their smile seems a little strained. It isn’t you. It’s December and they are bracing themselves is all. Should you wish to improve their month, aside from being the lovely clients I know you are (and appreciate more than you know!) I propose the following ways to make some vet’s day a little merrier:

Food, of course, always loved. Make sure to include the staff in the note. Usually they work as hard or harder than the vet and get none of the glory.

Did I mention food?

Cards. We read every one, especially on the bad days. I still have some from 2003!

Pictures of your pets. They make me smile and I love them.

And should you be stuck for ideas, I’ve made you some ecards:

Feel free to send one to your favorite vet. Trust me, it’s as good as cookies.

Citizen: Your Role in the Alternative Kingdom by Rob Peabody There is a quote in the book, “Citizen” by Rob Peabody, that really struck home to me. The quote goes, “The church is a colony, an island of one culture in the middle of another. In baptism our citizenship is transferred from one dominion to…

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When most people have to walk their dog in bitterly cold weather, they throw on a coat, hunker down, and head out into the world. One woman in Wisconsin has decided to go a little further than that and turn dog-walking into cosplay. The unknown woman, who identified herself to local television station WLUK as “Bumble,” has been seen walking her Poodle, “Blizzard,” while fully outfitted as the Abominable Snowman.

Anyone who’s watched Christmas specials between now and 1964 will immediately recognize the character: His full name is the Abominable Snowman of the North — otherwise known as “Bumble” or “The Bumble.” He was first seen in the 1964 Rankin-Bass television production of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Despite the fact that the quality of the stop-motion animation in the special is only slightly above what you would get in a flip-book, the show has charmed children and pop-culture geeks ever since. Even for those of us who weren’t born in 1964, it’s become lodged irrevocably in the cultural memory. The special’s version of the Abominable Snowman is probably even more memorable than either the title character or Shermy, the outcast elf who just wants to be a dentist instead of making toys.

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The Abominable Snowman of the North, as originally seen in the 1964 television special of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

When approached by the station's news crew, the woman stayed in character, giving her name as "Bumble." The crew asked Bumble why she was visiting Allouez, and in a rough, gravelly voice, she replied, "Bring joy. Happiness."

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She certainly seems to have done that. Since the word started to spread about Bumble, she's become a kind of mini-celebrity among local residents. Some people have even cruised the neighborhood hoping to spot her and take pictures, much like people do with Sasquatch, Nessie, or flying saucers. The difference is, of course, that you're much more likely to go home with pictures of Bumble.

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"I drove down Libal, and she is walking down the street, and I thought, yes, they found her,” said Pam Laabs, a local crossing guard, to the news crew. "When she turned the corner, I said 'Thank you, you gave me a smile on my face for two days.' I said, 'I just thought it was funny.'"

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Bumble told the crew from WLUK that she had one complaint about Allouez: "Too warm," she said. On the surface, that might be a comparison to the weather near the North Pole, but maybe not; full-body costumes like the one she's wearing have a reputation for heating up very quickly. Even in someplace as bitterly cold as Wisconsin, it's a good way to keep warm.

The Poodle had no comment, but seemed to take all the attention in stride.